Last night in London, Dr Ben Goldacre debated with Lord Drayson the state of science reporting in Britain.
Dr Ben Goldacre is author of the book (and column) Bad Science, and has become well-known for criticising science reporting in the UK. His debating opponent, Lord Drayson, is the UK’s Science Minister, who contends that the standard is actually quite high, and has greatly improved over the years.
The debate, which promised to be lively, was streamed live on Thursday night – a taster of it can be listened to here. The video of the full debate is also available, and can be seen here.
Since the debate, Lord Drayson, who defended science reporting against Goldacre’s criticisms, has promised to investigate any cases brought to him by scientists who feel they have been mispresented in the press. The full article about the debate, written by Zoe Corbyn of the Times Higher Education Supplement, can be found here.